Attorney-at-law Lisamae Gordon has been granted a further stay of the six-month suspension from practice imposed in November last year until her appeal has been heard and determined.

 The Appeal is set for an expedited hearing in the first week of May.

Court of Appeal Judge Paulette Williams last week stayed the orders of the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council (GLC). The judge also stayed all monetary awards made against Gordon.

Gordon was found guilty of breaching the Legal Profession Act arising  from the sale of a property in Orange Grove, Trelawny, which fell through. The committee ruled that Gordon, as the vendor's attorney, owed a duty of care to the purchasers.

The committee had ruled that Gordon must pay US$35,000 to the complainants who had attempted to purchase the property. The complainants had paid money directly to the vendor  without Gordon's knowledge. The money was not returned and the complainants took the issue to the GLC.

Gordon is asking the Court of Appeal to find that the committee erred in its findings both in fact and law having regard to the circumstances and the fact that she derived no financial benefits from money paid by the complainants.

She has filed several grounds of appeal and is asking the court to set aside the committee's finding that, as the vendor's attorney, she owed a duty of care to the purchasers.

The application for the stay was made by attorney-at-law Stephanie Williams instructed by the law firm Henlin Gibson Henlin.

The GLC was represented by Patrick Foster, KC and attorney-at-law Mark-Paul Cowan instructed by the law firm Nunes Scholefield DeLeon & Co.

-Barbara Gayle.

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